Digital

In response to a request for input regarding the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) Study on Market-Dominant Rate Increases, the MPA submitted an issuance of information regarding the size and timing of market-dominant rate increases authorized by the Commission following the ... Read More

MPA submitted written testimony opposing Kentucky bill on automatic renewals ... Read More

MPA submitted comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) opposing the U.S. Postal Service’s proposed revisions to its market dominant service performance measurement plan ... Read More

The Alliance applauds the EU for concluding its trilogue on negotiations around the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will level the playing field by requiring the tech platforms to facilitate competition and choice for consumers ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights in support of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA) ... Read More

MPA submitted additional comments to the U.S. Copyright Office regarding the Publishers' Protection Study ... Read More

MPA submitted comments to the U.S. Copyright Office regarding the Publishers' Protection Study ... Read More

MPA comments to the California Privacy Protection Agency on the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ... Read More

MPA submitted comments to the USPS on calculating postage while an application for periodicals authorization is pending ... Read More

MPA submitted comments to the U.S. Postal Service on calculating postage while an application for periodicals authorization is pending ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter to the USPS on a proposed rule for Periodicals Pending Authorization Postage: ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter to the U.S. Postal Service on a proposed rule for Periodicals Pending Authorization Postage ... Read More

Reacting to yesterday’s congressional hearing and testimony by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, former Facebook data scientist Roddy Lindsay agrees with Haugen’s proposed solution to address the problem of big tech platforms spreading harmful misinformation and fake news – make the ... Read More

On September 27, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published the long-awaited final report of its Digital Advertising Services Inquiry. The inquiry, focusing on online display advertising, began in February 2020 following a request from the Treasury and comes ... Read More

The News Media Alliance is one of 17 international and national news media associations to sign a joint letter published today calling for countries to prioritize the value of journalistic content on digital platforms and ensure fair compensation from the ... Read More

On September 17, the Alliance signed onto an amicus brief arguing that Google’s amended complaint in its antitrust lawsuit against Texas should be made publicly available. Judge Castel in the Southern District of New York asked the parties to show why ... Read More

On September 15, several former top national security officials sent a letter asking Congress to delay antitrust bills, because it would harm the U.S. in its tech race with China. Axios published the letter, signed by 12 former intelligence officials ... Read More

Biden recently nominated “longtime privacy advocate” Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC on Monday. Axios reports this nomination “signals aggressive action” from the FTC against big tech. Bedoya has has worked at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy & Technology as the founding ... Read More

On September 14, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted in favor of giving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) $1 billion to start a bureau that focuses on data security, privacy, and fighting identity theft. The Bureau would be funded for 10 ... Read More

The Wall Street Journal has begun a series called The Facebook Files based on internal emails and files the outlet obtained. While Facebook claimed to be promoting “meaningful social interactions” (MSI) by demoting quality journalism it claimed was divisive, it ... Read More

Today, the Northern District of California published its decision in the Epic Games v. Apple case. The court found that Apple violated California’s Unfair Competition Law and issued an injunction against Apple. The injunction prohibits Apple from requiring developers to ... Read More

On September 8, the High Court of Australia denied media companies’ appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales defamation decision last year. On June 1, 2020, the Supreme Court of New South Wales held that several media companies ... Read More

After a month of negotiating collectively under authorization from the ACCC, with the looming threat of forced arbitration, Australian news organization Country Press Australia (CPA), which includes over 180 regional and local publications across the country, struck a deal with ... Read More

Today, over 70 regional news publications represented by Country Press Australia reached a deal to join Google News Showcase. This deal will allow the publishers to be fairly compensated for their content by terms that they negotiated with the dominant ... Read More

On August 31, the U.S. Copyright Office published its long-awaited study on state sovereign immunity in copyright cases. The report, requested last year by Senators Thom Tills (R-NC) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), finds that although there are multiple documented cases ... Read More

Digiday reported that Google has been meeting with select, large publishers about its privacy sandbox. Though a Google spokesperson said they are “committed to open dialogue with publishers of all sizes,” most publishers were excluded from these meetings. Google and ... Read More

The Judicial Panel for Multistate Litigation (JPML) ruled on the antitrust litigation pending against Google and selected New York as the forum for all cases. This is a very positive development, as the venue is more favorable than California as ... Read More

On August 5, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it would allow Country Press Australia (CPA) and its members to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook. The authorization will last for 10 years. The CPA, which represents ... Read More

On August 2, Twitter announced that it would be collaborating with The Associated Press and Reuters “to identify and elevate credible information on Twitter.” This program should increase and improve context added to certain tweets, anticipate and identify emerging conversations, and improve ... Read More

On July 22, the News Media Alliance hosted a policy maker breakfast and book launch event for An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang ... Read More

MPA and other organizations filed a stay of PRC rules that will lead to postal rate increases ... Read More

MPA and other organizations filed a stay of PRC rules that will lead to postal rate increases ... Read More

On July 13, France’s antitrust group announced a 500 million euro fine on Google for not complying with rules on conducting negotiations with news publishers. Several news publishers accused Google of failing to hold conversations in good faith to compensate ... Read More

This week, Attorneys General from 36 states and the District of Columbia filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Google alleging that the tech giant abused its power with the company’s Play Store on Android devices. Plaintiffs allege that anticompetitive practices ... Read More

In December of last year, the FTC unveiled massive antitrust lawsuits against Facebook seeking to have the social media company broken up. The suits accused Facebook of illegally crushing competition, namely the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, on its way ... Read More

MPA joins industry letter urging Uniform Law Commission to exclude a private right of action from model privacy legislation ... Read More

In January 2020, Google announced that it would be devaluing third-party cookies within two years “to make the web more private and secure for users, while also supporting publishers.” While some advertisers considered shifting their budgets and ad tech vendors ... Read More

The House Judiciary Committee held a markup hearing for a slate of antitrust bills aimed at reigning in the power of the nation’s largest tech companies. The bills included the Mergers Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021 (H.R. 3843), the ... Read More

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In early June, the French competition authority, Autorité de la concurrence, announced that Google had reached an agreement with the authority to settle an antitrust investigation regarding the tech giant’s anticompetitive behavior in the market for online advertising services ... Read More

Over the last year, multiple lawsuits, bills and investigations have been introduced to examine the anticompetitive behavior of Big Tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, and how their dominance of the online ecosystem harms news publishers and other creators ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to a Massachusetts bill on extended producer liability (EPR) ... Read More

MPA submitted its position to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) in the proceeding on changing service standards ... Read More

New polling from Echelon Insights, in partnership with the News Media Alliance, found that a majority of the 956 Republican voters surveyed support the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act ... Read More

On June 10, the New York State legislature ended its session, failing to pass controversial bills related to antitrust and consumer privacy. While the legislature had considered various consumer privacy bills, none of them passed. The bills ranged from narrow ... Read More

On May 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google was nearing a settlement with French regulators in an antitrust case that claims the tech giant has abused its power in the online advertising industry. Australian regulators are also investigating ... Read More

MPA joins other industry groups in opposing Delaware bill on new automatic renewal notices ... Read More

The News Media Alliance submitted a response to the Judicial Panel of Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) regarding Google’s motion to move the antitrust case filed by the Attorneys General of Texas and 15 other states and territories from Texas to California ... Read More

On May 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the country’s first state law regulating online platform moderation practices. The bill makes it illegal for online platforms to suspend or ban state political candidates for more than 14 days or to ... Read More

MPA and other trade associations submitted a letter in opposition of the New York Privacy Act, ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter in support of the Postal Service Reform Act of 2021 ... Read More

Re-introduced in March, the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” has gained bicameral, bipartisan support in Congress. Introducing sponsors David Cicilline (D-RI) and Ken Buck (R-CO) in the House, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) in the Senate, have ... Read More

The Association for Postal Commerce and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media submitted comments in response to the U.S. Postal Service’s request to transfer Bound Printed Matter Parcels (“BPM Parcels”) to the competitive product list ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter on notification times and enforcement of the Colorado automatic renewal bill ... Read More

From May 10 – 12, the Alliance hosted a series of meetings between local member publishers and their representatives in Congress so they could discuss the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (JCPA) and the impact the legislation would have on ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter to Alaska legislators on the proposed Alaska consumer privacy legislation ... Read More

This week, the News Media Alliance will host virtual meetings between Alliance member newspaper executives and their members of Congress to advocate for the passage of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), also known as the “Safe Harbor bill.” ... Read More

MPA joined a coalition of media organization urging the Department of Justice to protect journalists covering protest activities ... Read More

Show your support for the "Journalism Competition and Preservation Act" and ask your Members of Congress to do the same with these pre-written tweets and eye-catching social graphics ... Read More

MPA joined other industry groups in opposing a California bill on automatic renewals and continuous service offers ... Read More

MPA and other organizations responded to the Postmaster General's recently-issued proposed plan, “Delivering for America: Our Vision and Ten-Year Plan to Achieve Financial Sustainability and Service Excellence.” ... Read More

MPA submitted written testimony opposing Colorado bill on automatic renewals. View letter ... Read More

MPA joined other industry groups in opposing a Colorado bill requiring written consent for automatic renewals ... Read More

In mid-March, Politico published a powerful piece of investigative reporting titled “How Washington fumbled the future,” detailing the Federal Trade Commission’s 2012 investigation into Google’s anticompetitive conduct and the agency’s failure to bring a case against Google ... Read More

Nearly 65 percent of all Google searches end without a user going to a different website, according to a report by Rand Fishkin. The Alliance’s White Paper further detailed how Google creates a walled garden by using its market dominant position to diminish the ... Read More

MPA submitted written testimony opposing the proposed Washington state personal data tax ... Read More

On March 12, News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, testified at the House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, "Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press." Watch his testimony ... Read More

On March 12, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law held a hearing about “Saving the Free and Diverse Press” by reviving competition in the marketplace. At the hearing, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced the "Journalism Competition ... Read More

The News Media Alliance will testify today at 10:00 a.m. ET at a House Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law Subcommittee hearing, “Reviving Competition, Part 2: Saving the Free and Diverse Press,” on the need for the dominant tech platforms, such ... Read More

The News Media Alliance applauds House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI), Ranking Member Ken Buck (R-CO), Senate Antitrust Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Senator John N. Kennedy (R-LA) for today reintroducing the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (JCPA) ... Read More

MPA sent a letter on the enforcement mechanisms of the Washington Privacy Act, ... Read More

On March 5, the News Media Alliance submitted comments to Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) regarding his proposed Digital Copyright Act of 2021 (DCA) discussion draft, published in December 2020. The discussion draft includes numerous revisions to Sections 512 and 1201 ... Read More

MPA and Coalition submitted comments on California bill on automated decision making technology ... Read More

On March 5, the Maryland Senate passed a bill that would exempt news publishers from the state’s recently adopted digital advertising tax. Introduced in early-February, SB 787 aims to prevent services subject to the tax from passing the costs to ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to a New York bill on extended producer liability (EPR) ... Read More

Today, the Australian Parliament voted to pass the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission news media bargaining code, which requires the dominant tech platforms to, among other things, negotiate with and compensate news publishers in Australia for use of their content ... Read More

On February 25, both houses of the Australian Parliament passed the News Media Bargaining Code. It passed with several last-minute amendments that include more negotiation time before binding arbitration and government discretion to exempt the platforms from arbitration after considering the power ... Read More

MPA provides statement to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on financial stability of the U.S. Postal Service ... Read More

On February 22, Microsoft announced that it would join forces with European publishers to have platforms pay for news content throughout Europe. They plan to model the payment directive on Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code legislation, with an arbitration model. That ... Read More

On February 22, Microsoft announced that it would join forces with tech and media companies to form a coalition aimed at addressing disinformation and “developing technical standards for certifying the source and history or provenance of media content.” This technology could create ... Read More

On February 22, Facebook announced it had reached an agreement with the Australian government to keep news on its platform. The announcement appeared as an update on the company’s original blog post announcing it would ban news from its platform ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to an Oregon bill on extended producer liability (EPR) ... Read More

MPA and other associations submitted a letter to the Postmaster General ... Read More

On February 17, Facebook announced it would prevent users and publishers from “sharing or viewing Australian and international news content.” This means Australian news publishers and individual users will be unable to post or share any news content to Facebook, ... Read More

News Media Alliance Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Danielle Coffey, joined a panel on BBC's World News Service radio show, "The Real Story: Who Will Pay for the News?" to discuss the proposed news media bargaining code in Australia ... Read More

Facebook has announced it will limit sharing and viewing of news by publishers and users in Australia on its platform, in response to the proposed news media bargaining code in the country ... Read More

MPA joined other industry groups in opposing a New Hampshire bill requiring written consent for automatic renewals ... Read More

MPA and other organizations replied to the U.S. Postal Service and Postal Regulatory Commission's objection to a stay of higher rates ... Read More

MPA filed testimony opposing the North Dakota data privacy bill ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter on the enforcement mechanisms of the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act ... Read More

On February 10, the European Union took a decisive step towards adopting the proposed ePrivacy Regulation as the European Council reached a compromise on its negotiating mandate. The ePrivacy Directive, first proposed by the European Commission in 2017, would update ... Read More

The News Media Alliance commends the release today of the Australian Parliament’s Economics Legislation Committee Report on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) News Media Bargaining Code ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to a Hawaii bill on extended producer liability (EPR) ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to a Maryland bill on extended producer liability (EPR) ... Read More

MPA submitted a letter on the enforcement mechanisms of the Washington Privacy Act ... Read More

On February 5, Maryland Senate President William Ferguson introduced a bill that would exempt news publishers from Maryland’s digital advertising tax. The legislation also prohibits the taxable companies from passing on the cost of the tax to the consumer. Maryland’s efforts are ... Read More

On February 4, Google announced it was launching its News Showcase in Australia. If publishers agree to Google’s terms, Google will pay them for including their content in the Showcase. The details on payment remain unreleased. Publications participating in the News Showcase ... Read More

On February 3, News Media Canada released a letter to all Members of Parliament, urging them to prepare legislation to compensate news publishers for their content. The letter points out that Google and Facebook have disproportionate market power and use ... Read More

On February 3, Microsoft released a statement fully supporting Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher about correcting the power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news ... Read More

Microsoft President Brad Smith today outlined Microsoft’s support for the proposed bargaining code in Australia that would, among other things, require dominant tech platforms to negotiate with and compensate news publishers for use of their content ... Read More

An op-ed by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern ran in The Australian today, regarding the proposed bargaining code in Australia to require the big tech platforms to pay news publishers for use of their content ... Read More

MPA issued a memorandum of opposition to a New York bill that includes paper products in the extended producer liability (EPR) system ... Read More

On February 1, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) hosted a public hearing to discuss the News Media Bargaining Code legislation and address concerns raised by public submissions. While the hearing addressed praise for and concerns about the Code, ... Read More

Today, the News Media Alliance submitted a Declaration with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas to strongly advocate to keep the ad tech antitrust lawsuit against Google – filed by the State of Texas and nine ... Read More

On January 31, Google released a blog with “Questions and Answers” about Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. A third of Google’s “answers” included reference to Google’s News Showcase as the solution for news publishers seeking compensation and proof of Google’s ... Read More

MPA and other organizations filed a motion to stay possible postal rate increases until the case challenging the Postal Regulatory Commission's final rules is fully adjudicated ... Read More

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently published an op-ed that it has approved Alliance members to run in their publications, suggesting that the rise in closures of local news and problems with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can both be improved through government advertising ... Read More

On January 22, in yet another attempt to discredit Australia’s upcoming Code requiring digital platforms to compensate news publishers for their content, Google released a blog listing eight “facts” about Google and the Code. These so-called facts include that the ... Read More

Today the News Media Alliance sent a letter to the U.S. Economic Council Director, Brian Deese, and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)-Designate, Hon. Katherine Tai, to express serious concerns about a recent attempt by the USTR – in the very last ... Read More

On January 21, Google officially signed an agreement to compensate a coalition of French publishers for Google’s use of their content. In a blog post, Google called the agreement a “major step forward” and a framework for all of Google’s future negotiations with ... Read More

On January 15, Reuters reported that State Attorneys General are planning to file a third lawsuit against Google focusing on its Play Store for Android phones. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in February or March. Google’s policies include ... Read More

On January 15, WhatsApp announced it would delay its recent privacy policy update after users raised concerns about the app sharing data with its parent company, Facebook. Originally, users were required to consent to the policy by February 8 or ... Read More

On January 13, the The Australian Financial Review reported that Google was adjusting algorithms to block Australian news sites, as part of an “experiment.” A Google spokesperson confirmed this report, saying that the adjusted algorithms would “reach about 1% of ... Read More

On January 7, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a C-SPAN interview that he no longer intends to move forward with the notice of proposed rule-making to clarify Section 230. He said he had insufficient time to complete the administrative ... Read More

On December 28, National Review published a column by News Media Alliance President & CEO, David Chavern, discussing the recent lawsuit by ten attorneys general against Google for anticompetitive behavior, and the need for Congress to grant an antitrust safe ... Read More

The News Media Alliance applauds Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) for the release of the discussion draft of his proposed Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) reform bill, which includes proposals that would help news publishers protect their online content and facilitate ... Read More

On December 18, a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, requesting that the administration not include broad online liability protections in the potential U.S.-UK trade agreement. The letter, signed by Senators Mark Warner ... Read More

On December 17, a bipartisan coalition of 38 states filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging Google used its market power to thwart competition. The lawsuit alleges that Google leveraged its market power ... Read More

On December 16, 10 states filed a complaint in the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Sherman division alleging that Google illegally monopolized products and services that publishers used to advertise. The complaint further alleges that Google’s anticompetitive ... Read More

We applaud all 10 states that have stepped forward to take action to address Google's flatly anticompetitive ad technology business.   ... Read More

On December 9, the FTC announced that it will sue Facebook for violating antitrust law along with 46 states' attorneys general. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that “Facebook has engaged in a ... Read More

On December 9, the Australian government published its proposed legislation to create an enforceable code to require online platforms to pay news publishers for their content. The law will codify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) draft code released ... Read More

On Friday, The Washington Post published it's weekly Five Myths column, which featured News Media Alliance President & CEO David Chavern dispelling five myths about the news business ... Read More

On December 2, Google announced that it would start giving consumers access to paywalled content. Google will pay participating publishers for Google News Showcase users’ access to paywalled content. Google News Showcase launched two months ago in limited countries and Google ... Read More

On November 30, Facebook announced it would pay some UK publishers for their content. Facebook will hire contractors to select the main stories of the day from mainstream outlets to appear in its News Tab. Facebook has not said how much ... Read More

The News Media Alliance today sent recommendations to President-Elect Joseph Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris’s transition team outlining policy positions on regulations and existing laws that deter investment and limit growth in the news media industry ... Read More

On November 27, the Select Committee on Communications and Digital of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom published a report titled “Breaking News? The Future of UK Journalism.” The comprehensive report outlines the UK news media landscape before ... Read More

On November 27, the UK Government released its responses to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) study on online platforms and digital advertising, published in July 2020. In its response, the Government accepted the CMA’s findings and recommendations and committed ... Read More

On November 19, Google entered into a copyright agreement with six French publishers to compensate them for their content. The agreement comes after a court ordered Google to begin negotiations with French publishers to pay them for the use of ... Read More

While the straight revenue share between Google AdSense and publishers was clearly tilted in favor of the publishers, Google AdSense has become le­ss relevant for publishers who sell through Google Ad Manager, an opaque marketplace. And Google benefits significantly more ... Read More

On November 10, Nathan Simington, Trump’s nominee to replace FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, was questioned by Senators at a nominations hearing. Nathan Simington is a Senior Adviser at the National Telecommunications and Information Association, which petitioned the FCC for rulemaking ... Read More

On October 27, Senator Maria Cantrell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, released a report on threats to local news in today’s digital landscape. It explains how Google and Facebook have created a crisis for local news, whose revenues have ... Read More

The News Media Alliance commends Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for the release of her report, “Local Journalism: The Threat to America’s Most Trusted News Source,” outlining how changes in the information marketplace and the dominance of ... Read More

On October 21, News Media Canada released a statement on behalf of Canada’s news publishers calling on Parliament to address Google and Facebook’s excessive market power. Because Google and Facebook control the majority of advertising revenue, news publishers’ bottom line is at ... Read More

On October 20, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 11 state Attorneys General filed a lawsuit against Google in the District Court for the District of Columbia for allegedly violating antitrust laws under Section 2 of the Sherman Act, in hopes of ... Read More

In response to the lawsuit filed today by the Department of Justice (DOJ) accusing Google of antitrust violations related to its search and advertising services, Alliance President and CEO, David Chavern, stated, "It is good that the DOJ is starting ... Read More

On October 15, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a statement saying that “the FCC has the legal authority to interpret Section 230” and the FCC will “move forward with a rulemaking to clarify its meaning.” President Trump issued an Executive Order in May ... Read More

On October 13, the Supreme Court denied cert to a case implicating Section 230, but Justice Thomas released a statement stressing the importance of walking back the broad Section 230 immunity that lower courts have granted. Justice Thomas detailed how the courts ... Read More

Google is delaying Australia’s inclusion in its latest news resource, after the ACCC announced its mandatory news media bargaining code requiring Google to fairly compensate news publishers. Since then, Google has spread misinformation about the Code and released a statement condemning the code. The ACCC remains ... Read More

On October 8, a French appeals court ruled against Google, requiring them to negotiate with news publishers to pay them for their content. Prior to this ruling, reports indicate a deal was tentatively struck with a French news publishers association ... Read More

House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law concluded their year-long, bipartisan investigation of big tech’s market power by releasing their comprehensive report. The report discusses the online platforms’ anticompetitive actions against news ... Read More

House Antitrust Chairman David Cicilline (D-RI) and the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law have released their long-awaited report on the anticompetitive behavior of the big tech platforms ... Read More

On October 1, the House Antitrust Subcommittee held the last of seven hearings to investigate Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple for possible antitrust violations. The witnesses clashed over what Congress should do, with some suggesting major overhauls of antitrust law ... Read More

On October 1, the Senate Commerce Committee voted to issue subpoenas to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai if they do not agree to testify voluntarily. The CEOs will testify about Section 230 ... Read More

On September 23, the DOJ submitted its proposed Section 230 changes to Congress. The legislation would make it more difficult for big tech to escape liability for content moderation, requiring an “objectively reasonable belief” that the content they remove falls ... Read More

On September 13, Google released its latest statement about its grievances with Australia’s newest proposed regulation to compensate news publishers. While Google again claims that they “simply help people find what they’re looking for on the internet,” their use and ... Read More

On September 8, the ACCC announced that it is opening an investigation into “the extent of competition between Google and Apple’s app stores.” They will be informed by Australian consumers, developers, suppliers, and others’ experiences with the app stores. Because apps have ... Read More

Following Facebook’s recent retaliation against the ACCC’s news media bargaining code, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg refuses to back down, saying, “Australia makes laws that advance our national interest, and we won’t be responding to coercion or heavy-handed tactics, wherever they come from.” ... Read More

According to news reports, Google and French news publishers failed to reach an agreement on compensation for the use of news content under the new Publishers’ Right adopted by the European Union last year. France is the first EU member ... Read More

On September 2, the News Media Alliance filed comments with the U.S. Copyright Office regarding state sovereign immunity in copyright suits. The Copyright Office is conducting a study into instances of state infringement of copyrights, in response to a request ... Read More

On September 3, the News Media Alliance submitted comments in response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the proposed Digital Services Act package. The consultation is aimed at collecting views from stakeholders regarding the future of digital services in ... Read More

Facebook recently alleged that Apple’s new privacy policy will cripple efforts to offer personalized ads. These changes would require that app developers obtain users’ consent before they are able to track information used to deliver personalized ads. This policy is ... Read More

On August 31, Facebook issued a press release saying that if the ACCC’s draft code becomes law, they will no longer allow publishers or consumers to share any news on Facebook and Instagram. Facebook alleges that the regulation “misunderstands” the bargaining ... Read More

Facebook's threat to block real journalism from its properties is simply an attempt to bully the Australian government and legislature.  It is also a clear attempted exercise of their massive, anticompetitive market power.   ... Read More

On August 26, The Australian reported that Google is suspected of using “scare tactics” to push back against the recent passage by the Australia Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) mandatory bargaining code to fairly compensate news publishers. Both Senators and ... Read More

Google is supposed to implement a new “heavy ad blocker” in late August, according to a Google official’s activity on a Chromium message board. Google defines a heavy ad as any ad that a user hasn’t interacted with that uses ... Read More

On August 20, Digital Content Next (DCN) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking about better terms for revenue sharing from digital subscriptions to news publishers’ content through Apple’s App Store. DCN represents a broad variety of news ... Read More

The Wall Street Journal reported that some Department of Justice (DOJ) staffers are concerned that the lawsuit against Google is not ready to be filed, despite Attorney General Barr hoping to file by the end of the summer. While the DOJ has ... Read More

Google released an open letter to Australians claiming that the Australia Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) draft news media bargaining code threatens consumer data privacy, the accuracy of search results, and the ability of Google and YouTube to remain free services. The ... Read More

On July 31, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's (ACCC) released its mandatory News Media Bargaining Code to correct the power imbalance between big tech and news publishers. The Code ensures publishers’ ability to be meaningfully compensated for news content through ... Read More

The News Media Alliance commends the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for the release of the Draft News Media Bargaining Code, aimed at rectifying the imbalance of power between news publishers and digital platforms ... Read More

Congressional leaders and the White House are continuing their discussions on the next stimulus bill, including an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Both the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act released by the Senate Republicans ... Read More

On Wednesday, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google all testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee on Antitrust as part of the Subcommittee’s investigation into the anticompetitive practices of online platforms. The hearing was the sixth hearing ... Read More

On July 30, French and German news publishers announced that they were working together to form a new joint venture to license news content to online platforms under the EU’s recently adopted Copyright Directive. Article 15 of the Directive created ... Read More

On Wednesday, the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google all testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee on Antitrust as part of the Subcommittee’s investigation into the anticompetitive practices of online platforms ... Read More

Following multiple efforts to reform Section 230, including the President’s Executive Order, DOJ study, and other legislation, Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the bipartisan Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act in late June. The PACT ... Read More

On July 27, the Australia Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) began a proceeding against Google for allegedly misleading Australian users into giving consent for broad data collection. The ACCC alleges that Google did not obtain users’ “explicit informed consent” to combine ... Read More

What: Hearing on “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple” When: Wednesday, July 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET Where: Online - click here to watch the live stream. The House Judiciary ... Read More

On July 2, the bipartisan “EARN IT Act,” which is aimed at eliminating the sexual exploitation of children on the internet by imposing restrictions on big tech's Section 230 immunity, unanimously passed the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey ... Read More

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s enforcement of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) began on July 1, despite numerous requests for it to be postponed. The guiding regulations are not yet official, but the statute itself can be enforced. Meanwhile, ... Read More

On July 1, the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released its final market study report on online platforms and digital advertising. The study, launched in July 2019, focused on Google and Facebook’s dominance of the digital advertising marketplace ... Read More

On June 30, Facebook announced that original reporting with transparent authorship would be ranked higher in users’ News Feeds. Facebook hopes that by boosting original sources, it will give more traffic and revenue to trusted news publishers. Facebook will also ... Read More

On June 30, the New York Times announced its content will no longer appear on Apple News, starting July 6. The Times reports that it could not accomplish its goal of reader engagement and building subscribers while being part of Apple News ... Read More

On June 25, Google published a blog with its plan to start a “licensing program to support the news industry.” The program is supposed to “help participating publishers monetize their content through an enhanced storytelling experience.” Google will start by ... Read More

The First Amendment enshrines fundamental freedoms so core to our democracy that they must be honored. But the First Amendment has limits, and non-government entities that are granted the ability and power to spread speech must not be immune to ... Read More

MPA filed comments on the FTC's Review of Endorsement Guides ... Read More

The News Media Alliance (“NMA”), by its attorneys, hereby responds to the request for comment related to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (“Endorsement Guide” or “Guides”) ... Read More

On June 17, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) proposed the “Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act,” requiring digital platforms to fulfill their duty of good faith to receive Section 230 immunity. The bill would allow users to sue tech companies ... Read More

On June 17, the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed changes to the Section 230 immunity that big tech currently enjoys. It includes requiring the platforms to more proactively address illicit content, as well as requiring consistency in removing objectionable material. This ... Read More

Today, the News Media Alliance released a White Paper, “How Google Abuses Its Position as a Market Dominant Platform to Strong-Arm News Publishers and Hurt Journalism.” The Alliance has submitted the White Paper to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and ... Read More

On June 16, Gallup and the Knight Foundation released a poll showing that eight out of every 10 Americans don’t trust big tech to moderate content on their platforms. Despite over 80 percent of respondents favoring the removal of false ... Read More

AdAge reports that certain marketers are blocking keywords that would put advertising content next to Black Lives Matter coverage. These keywords include “BLM,” “George Floyd” and “black people.” Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, said “advertisers are running away ... Read More

On June 9, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) requested that the FCC “clearly define the framework under which technology firms, including social media companies, receive protections under Section 230.” The letter, addressed to ... Read More

On June 2, Public Knowledge’s Policy Counsel Meredith Rose testified that Section 512 has allowed online censorship to thrive. The Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property hosted a hearing titled “Is the DMCA's Notice-and-Takedown System Working in ... Read More

Twitter recently rejected an ad campaign by the Free State Foundation opposing net neutrality and calling for the internet not to be regulated as a public utility. The FCC has long since finished its net neutrality rulemaking, revoking most of ... Read More

On June 5, Facebook responded to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Mandatory News Media Bargaining Code proposal, saying the “competitive rivalry in the relationship between digital platforms and news publishers” is “healthy” as it is. This comes in the wake of news publishers ... Read More

On June 2, the Center for Democracy and Technology filed a complaint in the District Court for the District of Columbia claiming that President Trump’s recent executive order violates the First Amendment. The “Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship” serves ... Read More

Google uses news content for its own benefit, but without paying journalists and publishers for their work. Not OK, Google. Download and run the ad ... Read More

On May 21, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report outlining issues with the current regulation scheme as applied to the digital context. While the report does not call for a complete overhaul of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium ... Read More

The News Media Alliance commends the U.S. Copyright Office for its comprehensive report on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. We are pleased to notice that the report acknowledges that the intended balance of the safe harbor system ... Read More

On May 19, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) published a concepts paper seeking comment on four possible solutions to the bargaining imbalance between big tech and news publishers. These suggestions followed the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry in June 2019, which recommended a ... Read More

On May 18, the Supreme Court denied to review Force v. Facebook, a recent case implicating Section 230, from the Second Circuit. In Force v. Facebook, the Second Circuit allows Facebook immunity from a suit for failing to remove a post by Hamas, saying they ... Read More

News organizations across the country are offering potentially life-saving information to readers. But as news organizations struggle to stay afloat, many digital advertisers have used keyword blocking to prevent ads from running next to coronavirus-related content ... Read More

On May 5, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued a joint statement that they would begin virtual trade negotiations. As both countries deal with the ramifications of COVID-19, the economic health of the UK and ... Read More

As Facebook is investigated by the Department of Justice, the FTC, and over 40 state prosecutors, it now claims it isn’t just competing with other social media sites, it’s competing with newspapers, television, and videogames. As the investigations continue and ... Read More